I was in the cab on the way to the bus station and my driver told me that he used to live in Houston, but a friend set him up with the fare to go to Washington to find better work. On the way it stopped for a night inSanta Barbara, and after a walk on the beach and a look at the mountains, he decided he didn’t want to leave and never got back on the bus the next morning. That was 22 years ago.

It's a prime example ofthe Santa Barbara experience– how the place can infect you very quickly. It happened to me in 2009: I went out for a visit, then promptly went home and collected my belongings.